The Replacement Heir
by Eragon5055
Summary: A senior in high school wakes up to find himself no longer in his own bed, and everyone calling and telling him he's a Prince. A particular Prince known for his cruelty and cunning. Waking up a bad guy doesn't sound very fun. This story is my own version of a 'Harem' manga/anime that I'm just having fun with, and addressing some of the things I don't like about the genre.
1. Chapter 1

Up and Adom part 1

It is a rather odd feeling to be waking up in someone else's bed. I always found it harder to sleep away from home, the unfamiliar noises of the house or tent., the strange texture of sheets not your own, the alien smell that filled your nostrils, not repugnant (unless you were unlucky and sleeping in a barn for the first time) just different. It is an uneasy feeling that never quite goes away. When I was younger and at my first sleepover with my childhood friends, it was even harder when filled with that excitement and sugar and overall unfamiliarity. I had to call home that first time for someone to pick me up.

The major difference from those previous times and now is that I remember the day and events that led up to sleeping away from home. I remember going to sleep in that tent while camping with my parents, I remember that hotel we stayed in on our way to visit relatives during the holidays.

As I wake up now? I don't remember how I got here. At first I think it's just the grogginess of morning feeling my head as I roll on softer sheets then I ever had. An unfamiliar smell emanates from the room, again not unpleasant, just immensely different. It has a hint of pine to it, and I can feel the summer heat in the room. Again I chalk up these things to my morning grogginess, rationalizing the heat as the air conditioner being broken again.

Then I begin to notice the other things that are wrong with this situation. Such like I was wearing clothes. I usually slept in the nude, especially on a warm summer day. Another thing that was odd was the bed was much bigger then my bed. As I stretched my hand outward, I couldn't feel my nightstand, nor the edge of my bed.

As the strangeness hits me, I opened my eyes for the first time, orange light of the morning sun flooding the room and temporarily blinding me. As I squint, I begin to see unfamiliar shapes of the room.

I sat up, realization dawning on me as my eyes adjusted to the light. The bed I was laying on was huge and elaborate. Woodcarvings decorated the beds wooden base and headrest, an open curtain above and around the bed. The sheets were white and extremely soft. I can honestly I had never slept in a comfier bed.

I looked down at the clothes on my body. They were as white as the sheets and frilly. They looked like those undergarments noblemen and women wear in those period piece movies. Honestly it reminded me of Scrooges nightgown from a Christmas Carol.

The room was equal alien, and gave the impression of who ever owned this room had was loaded. The furniture and floor were decorated elaborately, a full length mirror to the side and a changing curtain. And to be honest, it was all freaking me out.

How the hell did I get here? Who dressed me in this? Was this a sick game? Am I in some perverts dungeon?

I jumped out the bed and ran to the open balcony of the room. The room was to enormous and I struggled not to panic as more and more fears flooded my mind. And as soon as I looked outside, I jumped back and fell on my ass. Outside was not the suburbs I was used to, nor was it anywhere I had seen before.

I was in a castle, there was no other word for it. The giant room I was in was a part of a giant castle, below were buildings taken straight out of time, crammed together and full of people looking like ants before. The sun showed the woods that border the left side of the city or town below. And it had scared the crap out of me.

My thoughts immediately went to thoughts of kidnapping and what they were going to do to me, questions of why and how filled my brain, my breath started becoming ragged.

"Pull yourself together!" I shouted at myself. "Now's not the time to have a panic attack."

I did my best to remember the breathing techniques I was taught. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out, one, two, one, two. Calm down, you need your wits about you. I told this to myself again and again, till my breath relaxed. I hadn't had a panic attack since 7th grade, the medication had helped and adjust as I grew more able to deal with it. Now it was a close call, to lose control and let the panic settle in.

Then a knock on the door and a nervous voice spoke through it, breaking my concentration and halting my panic as I froze to listen to the voice.

"Prince Oelm, s-sir? A-are you alright? I-I know you said not to disturb y-you in the morning to you called, b-but I heard shouting…"

I couldn't react, I just sat on the floor near paralyzed. Prince Oelm? Was he the man that kidnapped me? Where was he?

The door swung open, and I was not prepared for the world behind those doors and out the balcony, and it was not willing to let me either.


	2. Chapter 2

Up and Adom part 2

Through the open doorway stood a young woman. She was rather tall and a little lanky, my guess she was six foot two or slightly more, she had at least two inches on me. Her skin was of a darker complexion, looking middle eastern and most certainly tasted the sun. She had near black hair put up into a bun with a white bandana over on her head. She wore dark baggy clothes over her form and an apron, a strange symbol decorated the apron's front as she stood in the door way.

Her face did not match her skin tone, she had big soft yellow eyes, her other features a mix of asian and middle eastern ancestry, her nose being small but her facial structure being more defined then round.

The biggest feature that struck me were her ears. They were pointy, and huge, the ends of her knife ears reach to almost above her bandana.

'Great, I have been kidnapped by cosplayers.'

The girl looked at me nervously, not daring to make eye contact for more than a second at a time. "P-prince Oelm. A-are you alright your highness?"

I pause and looked around. There was no one else in the room besides the two of us.

"Are you referring to me?"

The pointed eared cosplayer immediately fell to her knees and bowed her head. "I-I-I'm sorry your highness for disturbing you! I-It was presumptuous of me and I promise it will never happen again! Please don't fire me and my Aba!"

As you can imagine, I was immensely confused. I rocked my body to sit more upright and crossed my legs. I don't know why, but I didn't like seeing this person in complete terror, and somehow in terror of me. Part of my brain told me now was my chance to run for it, just go through that door and ignore the crazy girl with fake ears, that this was an act, don't be fooled. If it was an act, it was a very convincing one.

I rubbed my head, trying to think of the right words to say. I could see tears starting to form in her eyes, making it the final straw. I was a sucker for this sort of thing, and I hated to see people cry. Consider it a weakness of mine, but I had to help this person, in some way.

"Look, um, Miss. I'm not going to fire you." She finally looks up, hope and slight confusion start to fill her face. "I think you got me confused for someone else. I'm not this 'Prince Oelm', and frankly, if he would fire you for checking up on his wellbeing, then that would make him an idiot."

Now her face was in complete confusion. As she rubbed her face off to remove the tears, she looked at me and studied my face. "I-I do not understand your highness, but thank you." She said quietly.

"How 'bout we start over. My name is –"Then my throat seized up. Confused I tried again. "I'm-hgh-" The words refused to escape my lips as I tried to sound out my name. I tried twice more, but the words refused to form.

"Prince Oelm, are you alright. Do you want to go get checked out in the royal infirmary?" Her face still should confusion, concern adding to the mix as the conversation continued.

"Truthfully Miss, I rather just be out of here and away from whoever kidnapped me. Where ever this place is. Or when for that matter. And I told you I'm not 'Prince Oelm', I'm hgh-hrr, gah." I spoke in defeat. More I talked to her, the less she seemed like a threat. She just looked like a confused and strange girl. She could still be in on the whole thing, but it more and seemed to be a different case, that perhaps she was just as much a victim.

More concern filled her face as she replied. "Prince-, umm, sir. You are in your family palace, in the Grand City of the Oelisiam Kingdom, 98 year of the Leaf."


	3. Chapter 3

Up and Adom part 3

"If I may ask your highness, what do you mean by 'kidnapped'?"

What she sprouted out was nonsense. I never heard of an 'Oelisiam Kingdom'. It sounded like a made up country. And even if it was real, where the hell would it be located? The middle east given the girl's skin color. I can't deny what I saw though, this place is most certainly a castle. The only castles I know of in America are in Disneyland, or was it Disneyworld? I never could remember. If I really wasn't in the US, where on earth was I? And why kidnap me, just a random senior in high school and drag me all the way out to, where-ever this place was?

No matter what questions I asked, more questions kept piling.

"…Your highness?"

"Oh. Yes. What I mean by 'kidnapped' is how did I get here?"

"…To-to, your room your highness?"

My temper and nerves were short due to all the confusion. There were too many questions, too many answers that didn't make sense, and this young lady wasn't helping at all. "Look, stop calling me your highness. I am not 'Prince Oelm'!" I raised my voice higher then I meant to as my emotions raged.

The girl shirked back in fear and covered her head, expecting a strike to come with the words. "F-forgive me your hig-, master. I do not understand-," Her eyes welled up with tears for the second time this morning as she cowered at the sound of my voice.

Guilt hit me instantly. I knew I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on the girl, she seems just as confused as I was. What really alarmed me was the fact it looked like she was expecting me to hit her. What kind of person was this Prince Oelm?

"Look, um, I'm sorry about raising my voice at you. I let my frustration out on you and you don't deserve it Miss, errr. Come to think of it, I have yet to learn your name." I gave her my best smile I could given the circumstances, and got up, reaching out my hand to help her on her feet as well.

"Y-you never asked it your high-, I mean master." The girl hesitantly uncurled and gingerly placed her hand on mine after carefully studying my face while tears dried on hers. Helping her up, she replied with a small voice. "Olivae."

"Olivae, thank you. Again, I'm sorry for yelling out you, it is just a lot of this situation has me… confused."

Olivae only could look at me with confusion and concern as she wiped her new tears away. She muttered in a stuttered tone small tone to herself "u-unbecoming of a royal servant."

What I needed was a plan. I was becoming less and less sure this was a kidnapping anymore, too much was strange. And I wasn't going to find out much being stuck in this room. While these, pajamas, were comfortable, they wouldn't do walking around.

"Miss Olivae." Her ears perked up at the sound of my voice, her attention back on me instead of cleaning herself up. "Do you know where I possibly could get some clothes to wear?"

The dark skinned girl stood at attention. "Of course your highness. I will bring you fresh clothes at once." And with that she was out the door before I could protest, it shutting behind her.

I went over the door and turned the handle. Thank goodness, it wasn't locked. And again it was odd because it wasn't locked. If this was a kidnapping, why would you let your captive roam free?

I slowly opened the door till I heard voices and froze. It sounded like whispers, and Olivae's voice was one of them. I decided to listen in, see what she was talking about. Maybe she was in on this craziness? I wasn't certain on anything.

The voices were quiet and both female. Olivae's I recognized, the second voice though was definitively from an older woman.

"…No Aba. He didn't hurt me."

The older voice spoke thick with concern. "But the yelling, I was certain-"

"Aba, he did not touch me. He seems, different today. Kinder, confused…"

"Olivae, there has always been something… off, about the Prince."

"Aba! Talk like that could get you in trouble!" Olivae gasped.

"I'm old, there's not much they can do to me anymore."

Again, the more information about this 'Prince Oelm'. And so far nothing good. Did the guy torture puppies or something? Why were Olivae and this Aba afraid of him so much? On a side note, it didn't seem Olivae was faking any sort of act. I almost wish she was, then there would be something I could grasp about the situation, a clue to how and why I was here.

"I must not keep the Prince waiting."

I moved back from the door and watched as Olivae came back into the room with a bundle of clothes in her arms. She walked over bed and placed them down.

"Ready with your change of clothes your highness."

It was back to your highness already.

"Look, I'm getting a little nervous with you calling me 'your highness' or 'Prince Oelm'. I can't seem to say my real name, so how about we compromise. You can call me by my first name, whatever that may be."

I did need a name I could call myself. I could hear my name in my head, I could think it, but when I tried to say my name, it hurt a little, and it felt like I was trying to fight a blockage in the back of my throat.

This way, I could get a name and learn whatever was Prince Oelm's first name. If Oelm wasn't his first name. How did that go exactly, I heard it go both ways.

"A-a-alright Master Adom."

"You don't have to add 'master'-, never mind." Old habits seemed hard to break.


	4. Chapter 4

Learning about Yourself part 1

I had to stop Olivae from trying to dress me.

"I-It's my job as a servant of the Oelm household and your personal caretaker to make sure you are properly dressed." She replied to my protests.

"It's alright, I am perfectly capable of dressing myself." I had a hard time keeping my cheeks from turning beat red over the situation. It was more a matter of pride then embarrassment. Being dressed like I was two on top of all that was happening would be too much. I needed some sort of control, even something as petty as this.

"…a-alright." Olivae said deflated. I really didn't understand why, I thought she would be happy not to have to dress me. Still, I didn't like to see her sad in anyway. By on high, she was like a puppy with those eyes.

"Ugh, uh, maybe you could do something else for me while I get dressed."

Her ears instantly perked up. "Y-yes! I know, I'll go fetch breakfast! Excuse me Master Adom, I'll be right back with your morning meal." A smile lifted her face and she excitedly scurried out the door to who knows where. She certainly was a strange girl.

It took me a little longer to put on these new clothes than usual. Apparently the Oelisiam royalty was big on buckles on their shirts. It certainly was a strange style of clothes. Not puffy like I have seen English royalty used in period pieces. It was rather slim. A maroon pair of pants with a white thin shirt under a thicker secondary layer maroon vest-shirt, that uses far too many buckles to close it.

On the shoulder stood the same symbol that was on Olivae's apron. To me, it looked like a big fancy 'O', with a small letter 'A' inside the larger letter towards the bottom. I get the feeling that 'Prince Oelm' had a thing about claiming property.

Olivae quickly returned with a tray. It had bread on it and a pitcher on it along with some fruit. She seemed more cheery then before. "Here you go Master Adom."

The pitcher seemed to be full of tea. Honestly I wasn't too big on tea myself, but Olivae's smiling face made me not want to tell her that so I drank down a cup of it anyway. The bread was good and filling as most bread is.

The fruit was the strange part of the dish. I never saw the fruit so strange. It was in the shape of a donut, but purple. I honestly had no idea how to eat it.

Olivae, seeing my confusion, spoke up "I could cut that Donoknut into little pieces for you if you like Master Adom."

Donoknut? Really? "That's alright. I just never saw this fruit before, if it's even a fruit."

Olivae seemed confused by that statement, but went along with it. "Oh, um, you just can just take a bite, remember? You eat one almost every day…"

How do I convince her that I'm not 'Prince Oelm'? I take a bite of the fruit. It's rather sweet. It sorta had a tang to it as well. Overall I rather liked it.

As I contemplated what I should do I realize I forgot to offer Olivae any food, I turned over to look at her and open my mouth, I find her face nearly touching mine. She had leaning far too close to comfort. Wasn't she a couple of feet away just a second ago?

"Umm, Miss Olivae, what are you doing, exactly?" She didn't budge an inch as she stared. W-was she… was she _smelling_ me?

Finally leaning back to a much more comfortable position, she finally replied. "Master Adom, might I suggest you go see Master Ignavias? I believe he might have answers to your confusion. I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I think why you're having such problems with your memory is because of the magic I smell on you."

"Magic? What? Wait, you can smell magic?" Almost nothing of that made sense. "I'm not having a memory problem, I remember who I am. And there's no such thing as magic, so what are you talking about? Who's this 'Ignavias' guy?"

"He is the royal mage. Please Master Adom."

I finally had enough. Magic, Prince Oelm, Master Adom. "Look, how 'bout you bring me a picture of this 'Prince Oelm'. I'll prove to you that I'm not him." I was frustrated. No matter how I tried to explain to her, it didn't get through. I need something to latch onto, something to pull reality back in, because right now, I was done with crazy.

Olivae just nodded and calming walked out of the room. A few seconds later, she came back carrying a portrait. "Master Adom, please look at this. Will you then go see Master Ignavias?"

I took the portrait and nodded. "Fine, I'll go see him after I prove to you I'm not Prince Oelm."

I then sat dumbfounded for what seemed like ages looking at the portrait. I couldn't respond, couldn't think, couldn't react. Olivae stood with a concerned look on her face, watching me as I stared into the picture before me. After some time passed she finally spoke up. "Master Adom…"

"Please Olivae, take me to this 'Master Ignavias'."

The portrait that I held in my hands was a painted and vastly detailed picture of me.


	5. Chapter 5

Learning about Yourself part 2

I stood in front of the mirror as I compared myself to the painting. The detail was phenomenal on the painting, capturing every detail and every blemish flawlessly. In the portrait I sat on a chair with similar clothes of a slightly different shade. The artist had copied my dark brown eyes flawlessly and had caught that mole on my neck I hated so much.

I thought I noticed a couple of differences after a quick scour of the painting, such as my skin picking up a darker tan then I normally had, but the mirror debunked that as I saw my skin was darker then I remember. While I was not overly athletic, and did tend to spend a little too much time on my computer or playing video games, I had not shied away from the sun before.

I was already white enough as it was and this summer I was determine to get a tan. Now it felt like I suddenly had it. I ruffled my dark hair. I at least didn't wear that comb back style that was in the portrait.

The one major thing that was off about the painting was my smile. It sent shivers down my spine. There was something, insincere, something dark in that paintings face, something alien. I couldn't look at it much further.

According to Olivae, that wasn't the only painting either. Prince Oelm and the royal family had several done every year, one group on and one for each individually. As we walked down through the castle, I spotted a couple of them. One of a much younger me, and one a little more recent. Again they were full of detail.

How long was I gone? Paintings like this took time. Did they have them planned before hand? How did they know what I looked like when I was three with that much detail? Did they have access to my family photos? And if they did, did they have my family as well? Are they in this nightmare?

_'__Deep breaths, keep calm. I don't need to risk another panic attack.'_

I managed to keep myself under control as we walked down and through the castle. The place was immense and full of immaculate artwork. There were lions and gryphons decorating the ceiling, the carpet was a bright red and the walls were as white as linen. Banners of that same fancy 'O' as on my clothes and Olivae's appeared every so often, though they lacked the letter 'A' that was in adorn ours. My guess is that the letter 'A' personalized the symbol for Prince Oelm while the banners held the general symbol for the royal family.

The way was long, though I refrained from asking Olivae more questions despite how awkward it made it. It was a little too much to take in and I needed time to dwell on my own thoughts as we made our way through the halls.

We arrived at the end of our journey after taking a couple of stairs upward into a tower of the castle. I couldn't help thinking how cliché it was that the wizard's room was up here of all places. All it needed then was to double as a library and we had the whole stage set.

As Olivae opened the doors, I would choke on those thoughts because someone was a fan of the same fantasy novels as I was, because sure enough, the room was a huge mess of a library. Someone had watched Disney's the 'Sword in the Stone' far too many times.

Books were scattered everywhere and filled the walls to the brim. The shelves seemed to go on for miles upward toward the ceiling, shoved with all manner of books of different sizes and shades of covers. Even the furniture seemed to be made of books, or at least covered in them. The room seemed to twist and turns like a maze, and there was far more to this level then I could see beyond the corner.

"Master Ignavias!" Olivae shouted with cupped hands into the room. We stood patiently for what seemed like a couple of minutes till Olivae tried again much louder the second time.

"You sure he's here?"

Olivae nodded. "I am almost certain he is here. The royal court is not opened today so he is not needed in the throne room, and he never leaves the castle without notice."

"My master is rather a 'creature of habit' as they say." A new voiced chimed in with a rather dull and bored voice behind us, causing me to nearly jump. I grabbed my heart as it skipped a beat and now was pounding with sudden excitement.

I turned around to find the source of the noise. It was another young lady, dressed in a black cloak, holding a large staff in one hand. What was odd was She was not facing us as stood, rather to the side, her eyes closed as she put down a book onto a furniture pile.

The door was still closed after we shut it on our way in. "How did you-"

"Master Cilee," Olivae interrupted my surprised remark. "Sorry to disturb you and Master Ignavias, but Master Adom has a pressing matter that requires his guidance."

"If it's for the Prince, I'll go wake my Master." There was a slight bitterness to her words when she said 'Prince'.

She turned to us and finally opened her eyes, and I realized why she wasn't looking at us when she spoke. Cilee was blind.


	6. Chapter 6

Learning about Yourself part 3

Cilee was much shorter than me. I was at least a full head taller than her. Her hair was cut short in front with a small braid in the back with beads woven into her auburn hair. Her cloak did not give away much of her figure as it was rather baggy, covering her form, though if I had to guess, it was probably rather petite judging by her face and small hands.

Her eyes were milky white, an obvious indicator of her blindness besides her posture. Her face was clear and round, yet did look like it had an ounce of fat on it. Her stern face and dry voice gave her away as the serious type.

In her hand she held a long smooth staff with a small knob on the end. It was flawlessly carved, with a symbol on the knob on top that looked very much like a rune.

And this girl disappeared before my eyes.

With a small hand motion, the ruin on her staff glowed and the young women before me seemed to cease existing in a blink of an eye. No sound effect, no other indication, she just vanished. Not even a rush of air to fill the space she occupied, she just vanished.

I instinctively reached my hand out, trying to feel the air the girl used to occupy. "How did she… Where did she go?" Was the _blind girl _a stage magician? What kind of place was this? A cosplayer, a castle, a disappearing girl. My immediate thoughts turn to that I must be dreaming, but that equally made no sense, dreaming was surreal, this would have made sense in a dream. And how do you wake up to a dream?

As quickly as she had vanished, the girl reappeared, this time with a passenger. The man he had with him was the classic image of an old and powerful wizard. He wore black robes and had a large peppered facial hair and a balding head, his nose large and slightly crooked. His eyes were deep and dark blue that seemed to glow despite the well lit room.

'All he needs is the silly wizard's hat, and then we have Yensid.' I thought to myself, trying to make light of the situation before me.

Olivae was the first to speak up due to my silence, which was fortunate because I would have probably have stared awkwardly for quite awhile. "Master Ignavias" She gave a quick bow before the man. "We are sorry to disturb you this early morning, but I believe the Prince has a matter that needs your attention. This morning-"

"Quiet elfkin." Master Ignavias spoke with authority despite his age, causing Olivae to clamp up and back away sullen and in shame. Turning to me, the man scrutinized me with his eyes before speaking again. "Why does the Prince allow his _servant_ to speak for him? Surely he has words he can speak himself. What is it that requires my aid so early in the morning?" Again his voice was surprisingly powerful for a man his age.

I found myself getting a little angry at the way he regarded and spoke of Olivae. She wasn't because she was my friend, we just met that morning, it was because of the way he spoke down at her that annoyed me. Again, I didn't like seeing anyone being hurt.

My words came out a little forceful, to match the man's tone. "I was hoping you could tell me what was going on. One minute I was in my bed in my house with my family, next minute I'm in a castle, with a cosplayer who keeps calling me a 'Prince Oelm', a disappearing and reappearing girl, and a grumpy old man."

Both Cilee and Ignavias were rather quiet by my pronouncement. Ignavias stared, looking at my eyes for a bit, studying me again as Cilee, gripped her staff. This time, the man's voice was subdued. "… I'm afraid I don't quite understand…" He seemed a little loss for words.

Olivae chipped in, having re-found her courage. "He has been acting odd all morning, and not recognizing some of the simplicity things and claiming he is not himself. I smelled ma-"

Ignavias snapped again at Olivae. "I did not give you permission to speak elfkin! A servant should know when to remain quiet."

Before Olivae could profusely apologize, my own temper snapped. "What is your deal? What do you have against Olivae? Seriously, she's trying to be helpful and you keep shutting her down. And you're the leading source of wisdom around here, I thought 'wizards' (Yes, I did the air quotes with it) are supposed to be smarter than that."

It was Cilee's turn to get mad this time as tempers flew in the room. "Master Ignavias is one of the most wise and powerful mages in this century you ungrateful-"

"Cilee, be silent." Ignavias spoke again in a quieter voice, his face a blank as he looked at me. Cilee begrudgingly backed down, though the grip on her staff did not loosen.

"You referred to your servant by name. An elfkin, by her name." He said, in an almost shell-shocked tone. Cilee's face showed confusion at first at her masters words, but quickly became just as astonished as Ignavias's face after a couple of seconds.

"Yes, I did say _Olivae's_ name. You can quit acting like she isn't there when you talk about her. And you can apologize while you are at it." My temper was flared, my emotions were flared. I knew I needed to calm down, but the day hadn't really let me yet, too much was weird, too many questions were unanswered. And this prick was just icing to the cake, the final straw.

"M-master A-a-adom, you don't need to… it really wasn't my place to…" Olivae stammered, her face beat red, and fear clearly showing on her face.

I took a calm voice to speak to her, fighting back my anger so I did not have to speak through gritted teeth. "Miss Olivae, you did nothing wrong."

Ignavias stood dumbfounded as I stared at him with impatience before he finally reacted. He finally addressed Olivae, this time in the calm voice he had used with his student. "… You say he's been acting this way since this morning?"


	7. Chapter 7

Learning about Yourself part 4

The whole thing felt a lot like a medical examination. Ignavias set me up on one of his book-tables and started poking and prodding, waving his hands in the air and muttering words under his breath. Sometimes I would see a small shimmer in the air.

Olivae stood quietly, answering questions when asked. Ignavias was a little more courteous since the small shouting contest, though he would occasional slip up, prompting me to give him the stink eye if he didn't immediately correct himself, and causing Olivae's face to go crimson.

Cilee stood with a stone cold poker face for most of the events, vanishing and reappearing whenever Ignavias requested a book. It amazed me how quick she was at it, she had to have the whole place memorized to the last book, which looked to be an incredible feat due to the state of the room. It was nothing short then amazing, and I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it for myself.

"So that is when you smelled magic on Prince Oelm, yes?"

"Yes Master Ignavias."

I had to pipe in at this point. "I wasn't aware 'magic' had a smell."

Ignavias sought fit to explain. "Elfkin are connected to magic in a much more, natural sense. Humans learn magic by having the gift and through careful study. Elfkin tend to be able to _feel_ magic even if they do not have the gift, though how they do so various from individual. Some can smell it like your servant- Miss Olivae." Getting quick on his corrections. "While others can feel it in the air, or hear it as a faint song in the air. I have known some who could taste magic."

After a couple more minutes of examining, he finally got up and walked back, stroking his beard. "There is certainly magic at work here."

Cilee spoke up. "What kind of magic could befuddle a man's mind like this?"

"Hey," I complained. "My mind is certainly not 'befuddled'. I am perfectly coherent."

Cilee seemed to ignore my complaint as she waited patiently for her Master to answer. After a couple more seconds, Ignavias conceded, "I'm afraid I do not know. This is a spell I have yet to encounter over my long years till this day. I can tell it is an extremely advanced magic, and that the traces of magic on him are just remnants of the spell, which shows how potent it was."

"So the Prince has permanently lost sanity? Sounds like his own doing to me."

"Hello, right here, not insane" I pipe in again, a little more annoyed.

"No Cilee, his mind is perfectly sane."

"Thank you!"

"But I'm not entirely sure it is Prince Oelm's mind in that body."

Before I could respond with a "what", Cilee immediately thrust her staff under my chin, orange light seemed to be emanating from the tip. I froze up immediately and put my hands up. Cilee's face was like steel even though it was not looking directly at me as she held it there. Olivae jumped and almost ran forward, though stopped, not sure what she should do.

"Cilee, calm yourself!"

Cilee face then should confusion at her master's words. "But Master, if this was a mind transfer, the laws clearly state-"

"Cilee, I did not say it was a mind transfer."

"Okay, could someone explain this all to me?" I said, not daring to move a muscle.

Ignavias sighed as he pushed Cilee's staff away from my throat, the orange light beginning to fade. "Long ago, many mages and other magic users sought out a way to avoid death. One of the darker solutions was known as a mind transfer. It was a method where by a mage would transfer and switch his consciousness with another individual's, preferably one that was younger. The practice became quickly banned and the method safely guarded shortly after it's introduction, especially after the council of mages found out that it was most often practiced on young apprentices to keep their gifts of magic with the body transfer and that they would poison themselves shortly before performing the spell so that their old body would die after they transferred and they did not have to risk someone switching back with them.

Sadly, like all bad ideas, this one would not go away easily, and the idea has popped up again a couple of times through-out history, prompting the council to destroy them and their research. While there hasn't been a documented case of the spell in my life time, the most recent use was that someone used it to take over the body of a king to rule. When he was discovered as a fraud, most neighboring kingdom's agreed on a very strict law concerning the matter that matched the council's position. Death."

"Whoa, whoa, that's a little harsh, no due process? That's sounds crazy!"

Ignavias shook his head. "Of course you need substantial proof of such a crime, but if found out, it also needs to be swift to prevent the mage from jumping to another body and escaping. It is something that needs to be handled with extreme delicacy."

Cilee piped up, sounding a little annoyed. "But I thought you said that this man's mind is not the Prince's."

"Cilee, why would someone come to me to specifically be found out? If it was a mind transfer, they would be doing their best to pose as the Prince, not expose himself."

Cilee did not give up however. "But what if his mind got jumbled in the jump between bodies? The servant has stated he is acting rather strange, and not to mention his conduct and words here."

Ignavias came to my defense once again. "His mind is perfectly sane, I did several spells to test for that. And I cannot say for certain what type of magic was used, let alone the type of magic needed for such a transfer."

Ignavias then looked straight at me, almost through me. "I must research this further and much more thoroughly before we do anything hasty. Until then, he is the Prince."


	8. Chapter 8

Extended Family part 1

"You know you don't have to be the one watching me. You clearly don't like the idea, and I'm sure if I ask Olivae is perfectly capable of filling me in if I asked her about something."

"Prince Oelm's servant"

"Olivae."

"_Olivae_" she corrected herself with annoyance. "Has other duties she must perform in the castle. And it would look very, odd, for the Prince to be referring to his servant for matters."

"And you do not have other duties?"

"My master has tasked me with helping you understand our culture and to blend in yourself as our Prince until he has discovered exactly how your mind has made its home in the Prince and why. Other than my studies, this is my 'other duties' now."

For my own safety and to prevent a giant scandal until all the facts are known, I was to be the Prince. Who looked exactly like me. Or maybe I _thought_ he did. Ignavias did claim why I couldn't speak my name was probably because I _lost_ it in the transfer.

_"__Magic is the realm of the abstract made real. Names, titles, identities are abstract, language itself is abstract. Anything is possible in the realm of the arcane, as long as you have the power and enough understanding of it."_

It wouldn't have been a stretch that what I looked like went along with it and got replaced by the Prince's. Ignavias said there was always going to be a trace of him inside the body, no transfer is completely perfect. The question was _how much_?

Still, this wasn't a masquerade I was prepared for. "Couldn't I just claim 'The Prince is sick' and stay safely hidden away till your Master finds whatever it is he's looking for."

Cilee shook her head as we walked. "It could take weeks, months for even my Master to find out exactly how your mind got switched with the Prince and why. My Master never even heard of spell that could transfer two _unwilling_ subjects since you obviously do not have the knowhow and Masters tests confirmed so. Mind transfer spells required some form of coercion or risk major backfire, though the method varied from the various versions that have popped up. I personally have only read about some of them."

Cilee gave a small huff. "You get away hiding in the Prince's room for perhaps 3 days, a week at most. People will start asking questions, the _King_ and _Queen_ will start asking questions. Not to mention the High Prince is returning from his diplomatic mission as is due to arrive in two days. The Prince not there to greet his brother and future king from his successful campaign would look very strange indeed."

"Wait, 'High Prince'?"

"Yes, High Prince. It means he is the eldest male of the royal family. The High Princess is the eldest female, and the rest are just given the titles of 'Prince' and 'Princess'."

"That's… a little odd to me." Truthfully, I was a little less dumbfounded by the superfluous addition of 'High' onto a royalties name, and more so dumbfounded that I now had a 'brother'. I was an only child, never really had to deal with siblings before. Now I have an older one, how do I react to that? I don't know.

Cilee suddenly stopped and swore under her breath, my eyes turned to her in reaction. "Looks like she's determined to see you. I was hoping to avoid her. Try not to sound _too_ ignorant."

Before I could ask what she meant, a voice came from behind us. "Brother! There you are!"

I turned around to find I also had a sister.


	9. Chapter 9

Extended Family part 2

She stood nearly my height, I was at most a hair taller than her. Her hair was ridiculously long flowed perfectly straight almost to her ankles. She had similar dark hair to mine as well as the same eyes, dark brown. Her skin was very pale, almost matching Cilee's indoor bookworm complexion, her face similar to mine, having a less round shape and more defined points.

She was not in the typical princess attire, no frou-frou dresses and umbrella like skirts. In fact her clothes were near identical to mine. She wore the same buckled marooned vest-shirt, and dark pants. Only differences were the obvious ones like it was definitively made to fit the female body type comfortably.

To be honest, she over all looked very intimidating. She had an incredibly stern look with a steel gaze that met my gaze immediately. I also couldn't help but notice the short sword on her belt, her hand resting on its pommel.

"Brother, did you not promise to meet with me earlier this morning for lunch?"

She had me in a figurative corner. I knew very little about the man I was supposed to be pretending to be. I guess Prince Oelm didn't tell Olivae either about this meeting because I doubt she would have let it slip her mind. Olivae seemed deathly afraid of punishment from the Prince this morning, she would have taken extra care to remember.

What was the correct answer here? What was the Prince's demeanor? All I gleamed about him from the small number of people here I met is that he wasn't a very nice person.

"Um, sorry uh, sis. Must have slipped my mind?" The last part came out as a bit of a squeak.

She stared at me intently. "Slipped your mind."

I did my best to recover, clearing my throat. "Yes, slipped my mind. I have been terribly busy this morning. Haven't I Cilee?"

Cilee looked a little alarmed that I suddenly put her into the spotlight, my new 'sister's' gaze now upon her. "Uh, y-yes." She also took time to clear her throat. "I mean yes. Prince Oelm just had an important meeting with Master Ignavias."

"An important meeting. And this was to supersede our breakfast together brother?" Her steel gaze was back on me. Did she ever blink?

"Yes sis, and I must apologize. I got wrapped up in it and I totally forgot."

"…What was so important that you needed to see Master Ignavias early in the morning?"

"Well, umm, you see…" My mind whirled, trying to do its best to come up with an appropriate answer. "I can't tell you that, it's really more of a, uh, personal issue. I'm truly sorry, um, sis. Perhaps we can have breakfast together another time?"

"A personal issue." She deadpanned. She paused long enough for me to just about pray to heavens before she answered. "Fine. I will not press, apparently it is personal enough to make even Prince Oelm more nervous than a suitor trying to profess their love."

Relief washed over me before she spoke again. "I suppose we shall have to have breakfast at another date. Tomorrow, at sunrise. And do not forget this time Brother."

"Y-yes, yes of course sis."

" 'Sis', why do you keep calling me that?"

Her question caught me off guard. Wasn't that a normal term to use for someone who is your sister? Maybe it was not the practice here. I didn't know what to really respond with.

Thankfully, I didn't have to. " 'Sis'. I like it. You may keep calling me that." And she calmly walked off, to whatever her destination was, hopefully very far from me.

After she was out of sight, I waited a few seconds to make sure she was out of hearing distance as well before turning to Cilee. "That was a very strange and scary person."


End file.
